Live from Omaha: Opening Night

(Photo by: Colby Katz)
As per usual, the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting kicked off with a convergence of possibly 15,000 people upon Borsheim's, the jewelry mart that is a Berkshire holding. Swarms of shareholders--a crew that included everyone from young M.B.A. grads to folksy Midwesterners, all of them the Buffett faithful--crowded over gold, silver, diamonds and other gem stones. Not surprisingly, the store is said to make more money during Berkshire week than the entire rest of the year. This is Borheim's Christmas.

Didn't find anyone who wasn't a complete Buffett devotee. Petrochina, what? With the blind devotion of religious followers, the shareholders I met (including an elderly woman from Detroit, a businessman from California) were in thrall to the Wizard of Omaha. The guy who, in the case of the woman who bought her first share in 1985 for $23,000, has quadrupled that mega-sum, and then some.

The evening was the first chance to show off Berkshire investments, so naturally the bar was stocked with Coca-Cola, Budweiser--and a special ice-sculpted bar was set up for Grey Goose martinis, plus free martini glass with "Grey Goose" emblazoned on it.

For an event thrown by and for millionaires, it was a strange sight to behold the quarter-mile long lines for Swedish meatballs and fried food. Said one shareholder, "I'm here for a free meal from Warren Buffett."

(Photo by: David Neubert)

by Laura Rich